Review on 🏰 Dune Ixians Tleilaxu House Expansion: Unleash New Powers and Strategies by David West

This is the best board game I've ever played. Okay, it helps that I love Dune (1984 book and film). But the mechanics of the game are just awesome. They found a brilliant way to incorporate sandworm, spices, weather storms, poison, poison spy, laser cannon (which when played against a shield acts like a nuke blast), family atoms and characters/factions into the gameplay. making it an absolute thrill for those of us who are familiar with the story (especially if we are familiar with the book), but also quite amusing for those who aren't. I highly recommend reading the book alone and you will see for yourself how it all connects. If there are too many books, just watch the 1984 movie (not the horrible SyFy remake, which is an abomination with horrible acting). There is an incredible balance between the factions, which shows that it must have been carefully tested. Initially, the Harkonnen seemed too powerful (they get 4x as many traitors and 2x as many treachery cards, making them an awkward faction to fight) and the Emperor seemed too rich, but when I tried, other groups came around to see how I could use their unique abilities to overwhelm the Harkonnen and make life miserable for the Emperor using Fremen, Atreides or the Guild. Still not used to the Bene Gezerit but haven't played the faction yet. I actually play the game with my 10 year old, 8 year old and 7 year old kids. 7 and 8 year olds don't quite understand the strategy but follow the rules perfectly. My wife doesn't really like board games, but after the first game she liked the game too. After the first game things are going quite well. There are great videos from the company that detail the rules in a simple and effective way. But in addition to the more detailed instructions, there is a very well-written quick guide. You can start playing pretty quickly - don't believe people who say it's too hard. This may not be suitable for people who are easily offended or hold a grudge. If as a Fremen you use a sandworm to destroy someone's entire army, or if the Atreides use their foresight to get people to pay big bucks for a useless card, or if the Harkonnen will destroy someone's entire army just by control their general. As a traitor or as a rich emperor, you gloat over anyone who should call "Charity CHOAM", you will occasionally annoy your friends/family and they may retaliate against you in the next round. I just sit back and watch my kids fight each other and me and just laugh, glad I'm not actually living in the treacherous and Machiavellian world of Frank Herbert's Dune by the end of the game.